Is the Twilight Series Good for Your Teen's Vocabulary?
Defining Twilight
Is your teenager unable to resist the allure of Edward Cullen's myriad charms — his ocher eyes and tousled hair, the cadence of his speech, his chiseled alabaster skin, and his gratuitous charm? (I know I am; I just started the third book in the Twilight series haha!)
Well, Brian Leaf, teacher and author of the books Defining Twilight and Defining New Moon, has actually found a way for your teen to improve her/his vocabulary using the Twilight books.
Defining New Moon
"Tons of my students recommended that I read Twilight," says Leaf. "So I picked it up, started reading it, and I was immediately shocked by how many really great SAT, ACT, GED, SSAT standardized test vocabulary words there were in the book. It's kind of amazing."
So Leaf put together two new Twilight series study guides for mastering these vocabulary words. Teens can use these workbooks side-by-side with their own copies of Twilight and New Moon to learn vocabulary words based on their context — learn more than 600 vocabulary words in just the first novel of Stephenie Meyer's wildly popular vampire-romance series!
Here's how teen can use these unique guides:
- Open your own copy of Twilight or New Moon.
- Refer to the page where each vocabulary word appears.
- Read the word in context and come up with a definition.
- Then check your definitions against those provided in the workbook, make corrections, and complete the drills!
Your teens can acquire vocabulary skills; learn synonyms, word parts, and memorization tools; and get drills and quizzes to integrate what they've learned.
Author Brian Leaf says, "One of the things I love to do is to help kids learn new vocabulary from things that are already around them." Using the already-popular Twilight series and these study guides, young adult readers can learn words in context. According to Leaf, "One of the greatest skills that you can acquire is to actually be able to learn a word from the words around it."
Here's a peek inside Defining Twilight.
Sounds pretty awesome! Sneaking off now to surreptitiously read Eclipse, if only I can evade the needs of my omnipresent offspring.
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FIVEHAPPYHEARTS
wow know im making my daughter read it lol
SteeleMommasita
my daughters high school English classes have incorporated these books into their curriculum because the writing is excellent and challenges their vocabulary. Great post :)
Solera
My is only 7 so I really hadn't thought about this much, but after reading this, I realize it is true. I never put much thought into the words I was reading when I read the Twilight Saga, but seeing them in this post about teens and their vocabulary, it made me realize that I really didn't even know what all the words meant, infact, I just looked up the word Cadence because I wasn't sure of it's meaning. And as for being unable to resist Edward's myriad of charms, I am in the same boat, and mine also includes Jasper and Carlisle too...
dharmas_mommy
I'm glad that schools are picking books that are interesting to read! It was hard forcing myself to read Maya Angelou in 6th and 7th grade
lizzeh
It is NOT well written. Tha's all I have to say. :|.
MommyLady
I think anyone who finds the very limited vocabulary she presents in the books difficult to understand should think about attending Jr. High again. The writing is far from excellent, it's very juvenile, and the books read like sub-par Harlequin bodice-rippers for children. Horrid.
LaurBM
Having been a reading/writing teaching assistant at an elementary school in Connecticut, I've seen how vital it is to spark that interest in reading by having kids read what excites them. Definitely, the Twilight series does just that. The books are fun to read (I started reading them because word-of-mouth via my nieces was that the books were great). Reading does enhance vocabulary, and it's fabulous to know that these popular books can also have an impact on helping strengthen vocabulary.
craftin4fun
Quote: It is NOT well written. Tha's all I have to say. :|.
I was reading on a college level by the time I was in 7th grade. I realize that's not saying much by today's standards but 15 years ago, it was. And I thought it was spectacularly written! It may not have been perfect but what book is? And the rush that was put on it easily explains any typos or small errors(you probably didn't notice the one you yourself made in your comment) that may have appeared inside. The story was well laid out, expertly woven around the characters and it moved at an engaging pace. My children will DEFINITELY be reading this series...if they want, that is.
Quote: I think anyone who finds the very limited vocabulary she presents in the books difficult to understand should think about attending Jr. High again. The writing is far from excellent, it's very juvenile, and the books read like sub-par Harlequin bodice-rippers for children. Horrid.
OK...WOW! Did you even read the book or are you just going by mean comments made by other people?
Cloud_Dancer09
I definitely agree with the previous poster....The Twilight series is spectacularly written&has gotten my almost 13 year old SIL to start READING...Twilight has gotten her interested in reading and actually LIKING it
Wrtngfantasymom
I"m agreeing with others in saying Sm's writing was horrid. Atrocious. The story she presented was WONDERFUL! intriguing and honestly amazing. BUT She uses the same words over and over again.
Alabaster, marble, Ocher, topaz, irrevocably -- dear god the amount of use of that word alone... that isn't a great vocabulary, and I agree with another poster that says if you don't know the definitions of those words by 8th grade, there's something wrong.
If my daughters brought those books home as required reading material in high school, I will go in and tell the teacher I'd much rather she read William shakespere, Jane Austin, and the like before reading those for anything but FREE reading.
And this is coming from someone who did like the stories... but not the writer.